New additions to the Garden Phlox collection

     Today looked like summer. First dahlias were planted out and more waiting for their turn. Almost all tulips are blooming. Two double late tulips 'Cilesta' and 'Carnaval De Nice' are my first double tulips. Perhaps, I will skip that type of tulips for next year, flowers are small and unruly in comparison with perfect shape of 'Crystal Beauty' or 'Yokohama' for example.

Double Late Tulip 'Carnaval De Nice'

     Couple of days ago I added 6 new varieties to my collection of Garden Phlox Phlox paniculata. All these varieties originated from Russia. Russian Garden Phlox varieties are well known around the world and it was my cherished dream to get some of them for my own collection. During my last trip to Saint Petersburg I visited one of the best perennial nurseries of North-West Russia Severnaya Flora. They have an impressive assortment of perennials in general and Russian Garden Phlox in particular. Here comes a preview of my new additions.

Дымчатый Коралл (Ph. paniculata 'Dymchatiy Korall')

Picture borrowed from Russian Phlox Society

Лорд (Ph. paniculata 'Lord')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Мисс Ольга (Ph. paniculata 'Miss Olga')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Покровский Барон (Ph. paniculata 'Pokrovskij Baron')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Уральские Сказы (Ph. paniculata 'Uralskie Skasi')

Picture borrowed from Dacha Photo Catalog

Фламенко (Ph.paniculata 'Flamenko')

Picture borrowed from Severnaya Flora

Last weekend in October

     It's hard to believe but I'm done with planting in the garden for this year. On Sunday I planted last spring bulbs. For the first time I'm trying Iris reticulata, they should be early bloomers together with Chionodoxa forbesii and crocus followed by Anemone blanda and Мuscari armeniacum. Since we built a fence I finally could plant crocus, tulips and hyacinths without worrying for them to be eaten by roe deer. So I planted tulips 'Queen of the Night', I'm curios if they are really as dark as in pictures. My favourite spring bulbs are hyacinths. Yellow 'City of Haarlem', burgundy purple 'Woodstock' and dark violet blue 'Peter Stuyvesant' were planted together, we'll see if they fit each other.

     From Germany we brought some new additions to my small collection of Garden Phlox. Last year I planted my first Phlox paniculata 'Bright Eyes' and it bloomed great. So I decided to get more phloxes. So for next summer I'm looking forward to see blooming of P. paniculata 'Tenor', 'Rainbow', 'Watermelon Punch', 'Tequila Sunrise', 'Strawberry Daiquiri', 'Piña Colada', 'Junior Dream', 'Pünktchen' and 'Uspech'.

Bright Eyes

Tenor

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Rainbow

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Watermelon Punch

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Tequila Sunrise

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Strawberry Daiquiri

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Piña Colada

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Junior Dream

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Pünktchen

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Uspech

Picture borrowed from the gallery of Hartmut Rieger

Karl Foerster garden and nursery in Potsdam

   Yesterday we visited an amazing historical private garden founded by Karl Foerster in 1910-1912. He is famous for his work in breeding perennial plants and Garden Phlox in particular. The garden is situated in German town Potsdam right behind the world famous Sanssouci Park.
   It's end of October but the colors in this perennial garden are as bright as you would expect in a middle of summer. The weather was a bit dull and foggy, not the best conditions for taking photos. But colors are shining everywhere anyway.

Upper garden

   This Aconitum carmichaelii is in its blooming peak. Very deep color.

   In the shady part of the garden is growing an impressive mound of my favorite grass Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'.

   Low garden is full of well thought and colorful plant combinations.

Low garden

   Among lush perennials I noted some dahlias. Bishop of Llandaff is known for its dark bronze foliage. It doesn't need staking since the bush is not growing very tall. These characteristics make Bishop series of dahlias attractive for landscape designers.

Bishop of Llandaff

   Next to the garden is situated the nursery and a plant shop - a dream of any perennial enthusiast. The choice of plants is huge and prices are mostly just 50% of those in Swedish plant shops. Of course, I found some additions for my small Garden Phlox collection - bushy low-growing Junior Dream and bright orange-red Pünktchen. Choice of hostas was very interesting, a lot of well grown multiple shoot plants. I picked a nice plant of miniature Shiny Penny.

Plant shop

Field with hostas

Perennials are flowering as well...

   Not only dahlias but some other perennials are flowering in my garden right now. About 2 weeks ago my only lily - Regal Lily - was beautifully flowering spreading amazing scent in the dusk.

   I have only one kind of Garden Phlox in the garden which I brought from Germany last year. It was not labeled, so its name is a mystery. But I like this plant very much. The clump is very strong. Leaves are dark green with no signs of powdery mildew which I see so often on plants sold in garden centers. Flowers are very fragrant.

   There are not many daylilies in the garden. I'm still not sure if I like them. I guess they need several seasons to become huge multiple flowering clumps that I see on pictures in the Internet. My plants were bought on spring sales as half dried root pieces, so I have to be glad that they are alive and even flowering on their second season in the garden.

El Desperado

Strawberry Candy

   Hostas are flowering beautifully but one is a stand out. It's Diana Remembered with its large pure white scented flowers. This kind of flowers it inherited from one of its grandparents H. plantaginea.